


Pier Pressure

by ManaBanana



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day At The Beach, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-25 16:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18577864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManaBanana/pseuds/ManaBanana
Summary: Gaara and his siblings have an outing at the beach. After getting hit in the head with a frisbee, Gaara can't help but be upset because the guy who came to retrieve it is so hot. At his sister's insistence, he decides to speak to him.





	Pier Pressure

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh, I miss beach weather! I just moved away from my college town and the weather out there was sooo nice and that's lowkey the only thing I miss about it lol.
> 
> Anyway, who knows what any of this is.
> 
> Enjoy!

Gaara sat underneath an umbrella, taking in the sights and scent of the ocean around him. It had been several years since he was last at the beach, but Kankuro really wanted to go for some reason. Living in a desert might do that to a person. He ended up accompanying his overexcited older brother, his sister, and her boyfriend on the trip.

Gaara sat in the shade, applying copious amounts of sunscreen to his body. It was a bit of a futile effort, since having red hair and fair skin made him susceptible to burning anyway, but it was better than looking like a lobster for the next week or so. Not the biggest fan of water, Gaara decided to play with the sand around him, digging his fingers in mindless patterns, as he read. Being at the beach was nice. It was relaxing to hear the waves and look up every once in awhile to see Kankuro get wiped out by the water, then shoot up to shout a quick “I'm okay!” in his direction.

When Gaara looked up after another one of Kankuro's stumbles, he happened to catch sight of someone to Kankuro's right, who popped out of the water and brushed his dark hair out of his face, revealing thick, finely shaped eyebrows. Gaara's eyes widened as he took in the sight of him, water cascading down his rippling muscles and glinting in the sunlight. The man Gaara was ogling laughed brightly as he made his way over to a pair nearby, who were no doubt friends he had come with.

Gaara tore his eyes away and returned to the book he was reading, but was finding it difficult to focus on the words with such a beautiful man standing _right there_.

Kankuro made his way back to where Gaara was lying and he barely managed to slide his book out of the way before Kankuro could drip water all over it.

“Hey, dude!” he said, paying no mind to the fact that he almost ruined Gaara's reading material. “Whoa, did you step in the sun?”

Gaara blinked. “No. Why?”

“Your face is all red,” he said. Kankuro went to the umbrella and started adjusting it. “Maybe we need to angle this thing a little more for ya.”

“No, I'm fine, it's just… hot,” Gaara said, sitting up to stop him.

Kankuro gave him a look. “Dude, we're from a desert. You can handle heat.”

“This heat is… different. We have dry heat,” Gaara explained. He knew it was from how hot that guy was, but he really just wanted Kankuro to get off his case.

“Whatever, just don't get burned, alright?” he said. He sat down next to Gaara and opened their ice chest in search of something to eat.

Gaara went back to reading, but stole the occasional glance at the guy he saw earlier, who was now running through the sand, playing with a frisbee and laughing with his friends. Gaara returned to reading, so Kankuro wouldn't catch him staring, but in his temporary distraction, he didn't have time to dodge the frisbee that clocked him in the side of the head.

Kankuro started choking on whatever he was eating and burst out into a boisterous laughter while Gaara rubbed the part of his head that was definitely going to bruise. His brow creased as he prepared to scold whoever threw it, subsequently embarrassing him in front of his brother.

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” It was him. This beautiful… adonis of a man, was running in Gaara’s direction. He called out over his shoulder to one of his friends, “Neji, not so hard next time!” He turned his large, round eyes back to Gaara, who couldn’t help but notice the length of his dark eyelashes. He was even more gorgeous up close.

“I’m.. fine…” Gaara said softly. Kankuro went dead silent and Gaara could feel him boring holes in the back of his head with his stare. He handed the frisbee back slowly.

“Thank you. I’m so sorry about that, really. Um…” He looked Gaara in the eyes and he swore the man’s cheeks went pink. Perhaps it really was the heat beating down on them. He blurted out, “I’m Lee.”

“Gaara,” he replied. Their hands were both still glued to the frisbee. Kankuro cleared his throat behind them.

“Right, uh.” A nervous laugh slipped from Lee’s lips. “Well, um. If you’d like to play with us--”

“Oh, I couldn’t. The, um… sun. I burn really easily.” Gaara smiled softly at him. Truthfully, he had a pretty crappy arm and didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of someone so incredibly attractive. 

“Oh! Well, luckily it will be setting soon,” Lee remarked. His eyebrows pinched together, and an expression flashed across his face as if he thought he had said something wrong. “Well, let us know if you change your mind!”

“Yeah,” Gaara replied. 

Lee stole one last long glance at him before running off to continue playing frisbee with his friends and Gaara stared after him, admiring the way the defined muscles in his legs shifted with each step. He must have worked out frequently.

“Dude, that was really gay,” Kankuro said. 

Gaara shot him an irritated look just as Temari came into view with her boyfriend, Shikamaru.

“Hey,” she said.

“What up, beach?” Kankuro replied.

Temari kicked sand in his face, which sent Kankuro tumbling to the ground. “You know puns are the lowest form of humor? You know that, right? I hope you know that!” She raised her fist as if she was going to punch him and Shikamaru sighed, muttering something under his breath. Her expression softened when she looked at her youngest brother. “Hello, Gaara.”

“Hello, Temari,” he said, ignoring Kankuro, who was writhing on the ground.

“Were you just talking to a boy?” she asked, raising an eyebrow salaciously.

“It was nothing,” Gaara said. 

Temari shrugged and let it go, but the smirk on her face remained. Once Kankuro had stopped whining, the group sat in a contented silence and Gaara began to read again quietly. It was pretty relaxing being around the people he considered family. Especially with the sounds of waves crashing and seagulls cawing in the distance. Gaara sighed to himself. When he looked up, he noticed the same frisbee from before land just a few feet in front of him. 

Lee came running over again.

Gaara picked up the frisbee and smiled softly before extending it in Lee’s direction. “I think this belongs to you.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Lee laughed. “Must be the, um… the wind.”

No one made a comment about the fact that there wasn’t even a light breeze, but they all silently agreed to let it slide. Gaara was pretty sure Shikamaru was about to say something, since he was such a smart-ass about everything, but he heard a light _thwack_ against his stomach, likely from Temari.

“Thank you!” Lee said quickly before running back to his friends.

Temari scrambled to Gaara’s side and frantically grasped at his arm. “Gaara! That was the same guy! He was flirting with you!”

Gaara blinked. “What? No he wasn’t.”

Shikamaru, who was lying on the ground, staring up at the clouds, offered a quick, “Yeah he was.”

“You should go talk to him!” she said, shaking Gaara’s shoulders. “Gaara, his _body_. You have to snatch that up.”

“Oh, my god. I barely know him,” he said.

Temari gave him a look. “Okay, but if that thing flies over here one more time--” Just before she finished her sentence, the frisbee landed in the same spot it had before. Temari turned to Gaara excitedly, eyes wide.

“Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry! Clumsy me!” Lee called, making his way back over sheepishly.

Gaara gave his sister one last look before she pushed him toward the frisbee, whispering something about believing in him. He scooped it off the ground and walked over to Lee, meeting him halfway, so his siblings couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“Here you go,” Gaara said, handing the frisbee out softly. Lee reached out to grab it slowly and Gaara couldn’t help but notice how lightly their fingers brushed. His heart sped up at the simplicity of the contact. In an attempt to dispel the thought, he cleared his throat. “So…”

“Hey, I know you may be busy, but did you want to… take a walk with me...? Or something?” Lee asked. The seconds between Gaara’s answer seemed to make him anxious, so he blurted out, “Please don’t feel obligated, I understand if that’s weird!”

“I would like that.” 

“Really?” Lee asked.

“Sure, I’m not doing anything,” Gaara shrugged, trying to act cool about it, despite the fact that his heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to explode out of his chest.

“Um… let me give this back to my friends and then we can go,” Lee said. He sprinted off where his two pals were standing and exchanged a few words with them before handing off the frisbee. While he was busy, Gaara turned back to Temari and offered a tiny thumbs-up. She clapped excitedly for him. Lee returned not long later and bravely put an arm around Gaara, which was far more exciting than he liked to admit.

They made their way through the beach, walking through the soft, slightly damp sand while the tides lightly brushed against their feet. The two began talking and getting to know one another as they walked. 

“So, what do you do?” Gaara asked him.

“Oh! I’m a personal trainer at one of the gyms in my hometown,” Lee explained. That certainly explained his physique. “What about you?”

“I’m between colleges right now. I’m just enjoying some of the leisure time I have before I start my grad program,” Gaara told him. It was odd, sharing information about himself with someone he just met, but there was something so welcoming about Lee, that he immediately felt comfortable around him.

“Grad school, huh?” Lee said. He smiled at Gaara, his straight, white teeth almost blinding in the sunlight. “Congratulations on getting in! What’s your degree in?”

“Horticulture,” he responded.

Lee’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow. That’s incredible. Gosh, you must be really smart.” He blushed a little when he added under his breath, “and really cute.”

Gaara’s face reddened just as he caught what Lee said. “Thank you…”

Lee looked out at the ocean and Gaara noticed the sky around them had shifted from its bright blue, indicating that the sun was about to set pretty soon. He looked back and Gaara stared at the way the sun washed over Lee’s face, bathing him in a fiery, orange glow.

“Did you want to watch the sunset together?” he asked, grinning at Gaara’s awestruck expression.

“... Yes,” he answered.

“We can go on the pier if you like.”

Gaara nodded and Lee guided him along the way. He slipped his hand into Gaara’s quietly as they began talking more. The two laughed along the way, sharing small stories and snippets of their lives as they made their way across the pier, paying no mind to the other couples they passed along the way. Both of them happened to find a nice spot at the edge of the pier, which was surprisingly unpopulated, and rested their arms against the railing.

Gaara let out a sigh as he watched the sunset, enjoying the light breeze that was beginning to pick up, complete with the warmth from Lee’s hand in his own. He looked toward Lee, who was already staring back at him and gave him a tiny smile.

“Your eyes are so beautiful,” Lee said.

“Thank you.” Gaara found it was getting increasingly difficult to take his eyes off of Lee. The glow from the setting sun did nothing to help the situation, since it shadowed and highlighted the sharpness of Lee’s face at all the right angles. Lee angled his body to face Gaara a little better and used his free hand to tuck a strand of hair behind Gaara’s ear, revealing the heart-shaped birthmark on his forehead. The sight made Lee smile and his hand stayed where it was, grazing Gaara's soft cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gaara cut him off by boldly pressing into his space and kissing him. It took no time at all for Lee to disconnect their laced fingers, so he could cup Gaara’s cheeks and kiss him back. Lee pulled away, sighing softly before letting out a tiny laugh.

“I was just about to ask if I could kiss you,” he said.

“Then keep going,” Gaara smirked, pressing his lips back to Lee’s.

They paid no attention to the setting sun behind them and for just a moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Friendly reminder that I'm currently taking GaaLee sketch requests on my Tumblr at missdetache.tumblr.com! ❤💚


End file.
